Fact of the day

Information is the most powerful weapon.

Monday

Fact N°
1380

In 2000, a monkey moved a robotic arm over the internet using only brain signals.

Known as BCIs, or brain computer interfaces, researchers are not just implanting them in the brains of monkeys but also in human test subjects who are otherwise unable to move their bodies, and the results are astonishing: using only their minds, they have been able to move computer cursers, play basic video games, and even -- as profiled recently by Esquire -- create vowel sounds, ones being generated straight from their brains and audible from a set of speakers.
Only two U.S. companies currently have FDA approval to implant BCIs in human beings.

Tuesday

Fact N°
1381

Almost 1.1 million U.S. kids are homeschooled.

The latest stats were provided by the Department of Education in 2003, which noted that this figure is up almost 250,000 students from 1999.
The top two reasons given by parents for choosing to homeschool their kids are the "concern over the school environment," referring to safety, drugs and peer pressure, and the ability to provide "religious or moral education."

Wednesday

Fact N°
1382

No country relies more on nuclear energy than France

Almost 4/5 of the country's energy (78%) is supplied by its 59 nuclear reactors, in part because it has no domestic oil production. However, France is home to the discoverers of radioactivity, and thus has a long tradition of exploring nuclear power.
The tradition continues today with the ITER, an experimental project designed to further development of a thermonuclear fusion reactor.

Thursday

Fact N°
1383

The island of Niue was the first nation to offer its inhabitants free Wi-Fi internet access.

Niue, a self-governing island in the South Pacific associated with New Zealand, announced in 2003 that it was extending Wi-Fi access to all of its 1,700 or so inhabitants, becoming the first nation to do so.
In 2008, the BBC reported that every one of the nation's school children had XO laptops, according to the One Laptop Per Child program originally thought up by MIT's Media Laboratory.

Friday

Fact N°
1384

The first official citywide Halloween celebration in the U.S. occurred in 1921, in Anoka, Minnesota.

Although Halloween has been observed for thousands of years and can be dated to Celtic rituals, it wasn't celebrated in the way we know today until 1921 in the city of Anoka, Minnesota, population (in 2000) of around 18,000.
Located 20 miles northwest of Minneapolis, Anoka's association with Halloween began as an effort to "divert its youngsters from Halloween pranks" with a modest parade. Today the town has been proclaimed the "Halloween capital of the world."

Saturday

Fact N°
1385

Both the westernmost and easternmost points in the United States are in Alaska.

Part of Alaska's Delarof Islands and its Aleutian archipelago, Amatignak Island marks the westernmost point among the 50 United States.
Meanwhile, Pochnoi Point on Alaska's uninhabited Semisopochnoi Island, part of the Rat Islands, is located a mere 14 minutes west of the 180th meridian, landing it in the Eastern Hemisphere and qualifying it as the country's easternmost point.

Sunday

Fact N°
1386

The Morris Worm was the first computer virus to cause large-scale damage.

Cornell student Robert Morris initially launched the worm to determine the size of the internet, but it spread out of control and infected some computers multiple times, causing as much as $10 million in damages.
Morris was the first conviction under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. He was given three years' probation, 400 hours of community service, and fined $10,000.